He said, earlier this year: ‘These cancers are extremely hard to treat, are devastating for the patient and survival rates are not great.

‘Effectively, 50% of the population are not being given the added protection that could so easily be available.’

The audit also found the four-year survival rate from head and neck cancers ranged from over 60% (voice box) to only 33% (hypopharynx – where the larynx and oesophagus meet).

Waiting times for radiotherapy treatment have improved on average from 42 days to 41 days, but one in four patients are waiting 54 days or more from diagnosis to start their treatment.

Richard Wight, the audit’s lead clinician, said: ‘Audit provides an important tool in promoting standards of care for patients with head and neck cancer and has now become an excepted part of the routine workload of a head and neck multidisciplinary team.’